Chaos and Death
by dripley11
Summary: Ten years he's been gone from this rotted core of the Empire. Ten years he's been a fugitive. Hearing tales of someone he cares about, he returns to verify their validity. The once-greatest assassin of the Capital now comes back, and his presence knocks over the first domino in the creation of a new world. WARNING: SPOILERS FOR NON-MANGA READERS.
1. Chapter 1

**Pre-Story A/N: **This story will be using the English-translations for each names which were provided by _Akame ga Kill's_ creator. Also, for anyone who hasn't read the manga, this story begins around Chapter Fifteen and will continue on from there. I highly recommend you read it, as it has become my number one manga after I read only the first thirty chapters, and my love for it only continues to grow each day.

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**Chapter 1**

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"Hello there," a blonde man came up and greeted the tournament's registry desk clerk. "Is this where I put my name down to kick all those other guys' asses?"

"Not anymore," the gruff man grunted. He continued gathering his materials and informed the stranger, "Tournament's full now, and registration ended half-an-hour ago. Too late and bad luck."

The man's lone-visible blue eye blinked in shock. _I'm too late?_ he thought. He then asked, "You're certain there's _no_ way to get me in?"

The register's beady black eyes scanned down to the man's fat coin purse on his hip and flashed with greed. The small, toad-like man offered him, "Well, there might be _one_ way…"

The blonde's lone-visible eye nearly rolled in exasperation as he recalled, _Of course. This is the _Capital_ after all. Honest destroyed what little honor was left when he took over nine years ago._ He then leaned onto the desk with one arm and his voice took the tone he'd used _far_ too many times for him to bother counting, "Why, a hard-working man like yourself must have a family at home to feed, yes?"

"I do, indeed," the other man nodded, attempting and failing miserably at trying to sound innocent. "And on my meager, government salary it's so hard to keep the wife happy and the kids fed."

"I find women are generally like that," the blue-eyed, hooded man nodded as if he were a companion understanding another's plight. "It's why I decided against ever settling down in the first place; too much nagging for my tastes."

"My dear Scarlet does complain, but with good reason at times," the greedy little fucker returned. "But if there were, perhaps, a generous soul willing to help a poor man out by sparing a little spare money, why then I might just feel indebted to them and be willing to help them out for _whatever_ they wanted."

_Yeah, right,_ the man mentally snarked, but didn't allow any outward signs to show his thoughts to the other man. "Would –"

"You!" a voice the hooded man immediately recognized, for he could never forget it no matter how much he tried. "Do you have the roster ready for me yet!?"

Both the greedy little man and the stranger turned towards the newest voice. _Esdeath,_ the man thought to himself with his chest hurting. It took all of his willpower to not reach underneath his lengthy bangs to touch his scar.

"Y-Y-Yes, Lady Esdeath," the register stuttered out in copious amounts of fear. "I-It's right here!" he squeaked and shakily held out a sheet of paper to the beautiful General.

"It's about time," she sneered at the pathetic, sweating man. The aquamarine-haired woman turned towards him and asked, "Are you a competitor?"

"N-N-No, Lady Esdeath," the small man answered quickly before the stranger could. "T-This _ruffian_ was attempting to bribe his way into your competition!"

One of the beauty's eyebrows arched in curiosity at him and she asked simply, "Why?"

"Why, to impress the greatest in the land, General Esdeath," the blonde told her while bowing respectfully in order to hide his face. He then continued with his voice staying altered with practiced ease, "Tales of your beauty and strength leave a lowly traveler like myself in awe of your very presence. Why would I not wish to impress someone as graceful as you?"

"Flattery; how crude," Esdeath snorted in derision. She then offered him with a vicious grin, "If you're so eager to earn favor then why not do so directly?"

"Oh, I could _never_ hope to defeat you, General Esdeath," he backpedaled quickly and held his hands out in surrender – coincidently blocking her direct line-of-sight to his face. "Surely I wouldn't even be able to amount to much of a challenge to you, the strongest woman in all of the Empire."

She frowned in dissatisfaction, "Hmm. You're most-likely correct." The woman then looked at the roster in her hand and informed him, "The contest's contestant block has reached its limit, and that means that no other may compete unless another withdraws. You'll need to show up sooner next time if you wish to fight in something like this."

"Of course," he nodded low, a few strands of his blonde locks falling out of his shadowed face and into the sunlight.

"Something feels odd though," Esdeath commented idly as she began to walk away. She suddenly stopped and queried without turning, "Have I ever met you on the battlefield before?"

"If we had, then why would I still be alive?" the stranger wryly grinned from beneath his hood.

The woman's lips twitched upwards and she agreed, "Indeed." She then took her leave and disappeared behind a doorway and up the stairs to her seat.

The hooded man ignored the shivering man behind the makeshift desk and began to walk towards the tournament's stands. _If I can't partake, then I might as well see if there's anyone worth fighting out here anymore aside from Esdeath and Budo,_ he thought to himself while he walked slowly.

He traveled around the arena until he was sitting directly opposite the V.I.P. Spectator's Box, where Esdeath and one other sat. Not seeing any open seats, he decided to simply stand atop the stands and observe the soon-to-come bouts.

After scanning the crowd of participants and finding precious little to impress him, his cerulean gaze went back towards the aquamarine-haired full-grown woman and her company – an orange-haired young woman with a dog-like thing on a leash bouncing around the Box. _That must be this Seryu,_ he calculated calmly. _If rumors be true, then that dog is her Teigu and she took on two members of Night Raid at once, and she even managed to kill one. As expected of you, Esdeath,_ the man grinned knowingly. _Only the best around you._

Not fearing his possible discovery in the slightest, he reached one of his tanned hands up and pulled his dark hood back, revealing his face to the Imperial World once more.

The man had long, spiky-blonde hair that grew long over the left side of his face, covering an extended, diagonal scar that a gust of wind flashed glimpses of. His bright, cerulean eyes shone with a mixture of mischief and jaded intelligence the type one could only receive from the full mixture of experiences he'd had in his years on this world. A thin layer of facial makeup, nigh undetectable unless you knew it was there beforehand, covered his six whisker-like birthmarks which prevented anyone from recognizing him from his long-defunct 'Wanted' posters.

"Excuse me," a small voice tore his gaze from the General across the way and down to a small girl and her younger brother. "Do you mind if my brother and I stand here with you, Mister?"

The disguised former fugitive smiled kindly to the pair and nodded, "It's not a problem, little ones. What's your names?"

The brother – who could not have been older than five at the most – ducked behind his cloak quickly and the girl responded, "I'm Jenny, and he's Lenny."

Not even looking away or losing his congenial smile, the man gripped the boy's arm before it could reach his coin purse. He then grabbed the stunned girl and scolded them both while holding the two siblings off of the ground and in front of him, "Now, now, if you're going to try and pickpocket someone you should do a better job of scouting your targets out, Jenny. For instance," he put them down and nodded his head towards a drunken Noble whose guards weren't paying attention at all, "take Ol' Fatso over there. He wouldn't miss a few hundred pieces of gold."

The brown-haired boy stopped his squirming in his hand and looked at the man in awe. "Really?" Lenny asked. "My 'nee-san and I never get that much."

"Really," the man told him with a confident nod. He let the pair down and began to instruct again, "Now, the art of being a good pickpocket is teamwork in you guys' case. Usually, one should distract while the other sneaks in and grabs the loot. Lucky for you, though," he grinned, "I'm already on that."

It was right then that a patron of the arena suddenly shot straight up from his seat right in front of the Noble's and accidently sent his drink flying directly into the fat man's red face. The large excuse for a man sputtered indignantly at being forced to experience such a disgrace and immediately called for the man's head as penance. His guards were immediately in action and chased the seemingly terrified man out of the stadium and back into the city.

While everyone's eyes were transfixed on the scene as it played out, an unseen young female snuck up the stairs and came to meet with the odd trio standing atop the crowd. "Here you go, Boss," the teenage girl greeted and tossed the man a fat purse that jingled with all its gold. "Fat-ass didn't even feel it he was so pissed off."

"Good work," he grinned at her. The man looked down at the shocked pair of siblings and told them, "You see? _That's _how it's done."

"But that man's gonna d-d-die!" the girl protested vehemently.

"Nah," the man dismissed her concerns with a lazy swipe of his hand. "He's a little like me; he'll get away just fine. I know him pretty well."

"I'll say," the accomplice mumbled under her breath, but wasn't unheard by the man. "'A _little_ like me,' he says."

The blonde man opened the stolen purse and let out a low whistle, impressed, once he saw the fruits of his rather easy labor first-hand. _Gotta be at least three-hundred in here,_ he noted. He then reached in, removed a handful of coins as a finder's fee, tied it back up, and gave the velvet purse to the sister. "Take care and hide all of this, okay? Only use it to buy food for yourselves. Never carry more than you need. People will be on the lookout for little kids like you carrying around this kind of cash. It should keep you both fed for a few years if you're careful and don't let _anyone_ know. Got all that?" he asked with a serious look.

The girl gave him a steely nod once she shook her head of her awestruck look and replied, "I do, and we'll be careful. Lenny and me only got each other. We don't trust nobody here. Mommy and Daddy did, and now they're gone for good. I won't lose Lenny too."

A soft smile coated the man's features and he told her, "You're a good sister, Jenny. Take good care of your little brother," he ruffled her hair affectionately.

"I will!" she chirped with a bright smile and a nod. Jenny then turned and began to leave, but stopped when she realized that her brother wasn't following like he was supposed to. "Lenny, let's go!"

Lenny ignored her and just stared up at the tall man's half-hidden face. After another moment he finally asked, "What's your name, Mister? You know ours so isn't it fair if we know yours?"

The teenaged woman present looked at the 'Boss' with a sharp look, but that proved to be entirely useless when he told the boy, "You can call me Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."

"Na-ru-to," the boy tried out the name. He cheekily grinned up at him and informed the man, "You've got a funny name, Mister."

"Yes, yes, I know," Naruto chuckled. "Blame my mother." He then gently pushed the boy towards his sibling and reiterated, "You help your sister out now too. Don't let her just take care of you, you help take care of her, you got that?"

The pair of small children thanked him and then took their leave from the stadium right as the first round of the tournament came to a close. The girl who'd brought up the gold glared at him and berated his decision, "You really shouldn't have told them our real name, Boss."

"That's not for you to decide," the blonde man reminded her sharply. He then shrugged uncaringly and responded, "Besides, it was only a matter of time before news that I'm still kicking gets around; though nobody knows me as Uzumaki."

"You know full well that _she_ will put it all together though," the woman reminded him. "We got off easy when she didn't recognize you earlier, but we won't be so lucky next time."

"And here I thought my clones were supposed to be on my side," Naruto whined rhetorically. "Tell me, did it ever click inside your thick noggin' that she no-doubt already suspects. Hell, she's probably _known_ I didn't actually die two years ago!" He quickly cut off the woman before she could attempt to protest again, "Look, it's _my_ choice who I tell, not yours. Just tell me what all you've found out since the last check-in."

The woman crossed her arms in a huff before saying, "Not much more. Kurome is a Jaeger for certain – that much we confirmed with our own eyes this time. Akame, though, is much harder to locate. She definitely learned well."

Naruto pulled out a 'Wanted' poster and his lone-visible eye softened as the image of a dark-haired teenage woman greeted him. "Yeah," he agreed wistfully, a mixture of pride and affection welling up inside his chest. He rolled the piece of parchment back up and put it away while saying, "Yeah, she did. But I can't help but wonder about this 'Night Raid' group I keep hearing about; even Najenda's in it if the 'Wanted' posters are anything to go by."

"She's the leader, according to the guardsmen," the girl corrected, making the man blink in shock. She then further explained, "Night Raid, as they're called, is a group of assassins whom target the wealthy and important Imperial personnel."

"Translation: They kill the corrupt and the trash in the Capital," the blonde man concluded. "Anything else?"

"Yes. They apparently have close ties with the Revolutionary Army."

"I figured that," he deadpanned back. "You know, what-with _Najenda_ supposedly being the leader and all."

"Then there's not much else as of yet," she shrugged back. "Well, nothing concrete at least. Some rumors have Night Raid's numbers as large as twenty while others have it as low as five. Personally, I think it's around eight."

"A good estimate," the man nodded sagely. "I'd heard that each of these 'assassins' carry a Teigu, so ten would be the absolute limit – you don't want to risk losing all the Teigu at once if their base should ever be pinpointed. Anything else worth mentioning?"

"Nothing at all," the young woman answered him. "Any new orders?"

"Get more info on the rest of these Jaegers first," he ordered after a minute of thought. "If Najenda's really the leader of this 'Night Raid,' then we'll be lucky to find anything else on them without first encountering one of their members."

"Roger," the transformed clone saluted in acceptance and then disappeared with the breeze.

The blonde man shook his head and murmured, "I really do have too big of an ego for my own good. Really? Right here? Right in plain sight; where Esdeath can see it ?"

His half-covered face then rose and found the startlingly blue eyes of the beautiful General staring directly at him, as though she were calculating his risk potential and determining if he would be a worthy opponent to break. The blonde gave her his trademark cheeky grin and returned to watching the tournament below, which had somehow made it all the way to the final match in the meantime.

_Damn that was fast,_ he noted absently. "So who's left?" he wondered as he looked down into the ring. "Let's see, a disgraced martial arts master and some blacksmith apprentice." He chuckled in amusement and idly commented, "Well that's a cover story if I've ever seen one. No simple apprentice would make it all the way to this thing's finals, and I can tell from the look in his eyes that he's much more than he seems; that kid's a _warrior_, and you're a fool if you don't believe it."

Listening to the announcement of the competitors, the kid's name was Tatsumi. The young man seemed to be in his late teens, around the age Akame should be by Naruto's estimate, and stood at just above an average height. The boy's frame was lean and muscular, which spoke of serious training in the art of the blade, and his stance spoke of complete and absolute confidence in the face of his undaunted opponent.

However, it was the look in his bright green eyes that gave the experienced warrior in the stands his certainty of Tatsumi's coming victory; Tatsumi's eyes were hardened through heart-wrenching agony and revealed to anyone who could see it that his pain had only solidified his determination. Those cold eyes made the blonde man grin and begin to respect the kid's potential.

_I know how it feels,_ Naruto mentally communicated, _to lose someone you care about._ His gaze panned across the arena and he finished aloud, "I know that pain more than you could ever know, kid."

Naruto then leaned back against the railing and watched as the final tournament bout played out. He couldn't help but viciously grin while Tatsumi easily dodged his arrogant foe's blows and lulled the disgraced Master into complacency. It was after a few minutes then that, in the blink of an eye, the monstrous opponent was sent careening across the arena and crashed into the wall, unmoving upon the ground.

"I like this guy already," the blonde thought out loud with a feral smile. "After this whole thing's over, I'm gonna ask for a spar; he's got a Teigu, I can just feel it in my gut. I wonder which one though."

The boy below had a happy grin on his face as the entire attending audience applauded his great, seemingly unexpected victory. However, both he and Naruto froze solid when they saw Esdeath herself walking down from her Box towards the arena, and the entire building went as quiet as death the second her booted heel struck the concrete ring.

She slowly strutted across the battleground, making Naruto extremely curious as to why she would do such an out of character thing. _It's not like her at all to personally congratulate someone not under her command. Does she intend to demand him to Enlist under her?_

However, instead of the expected congratulations, Esdeath pulled a collar out from her General's Coat and put it over Tatsumi's neck before anyone could react. "You're mine," she declared simply and then dragged the boy off with red staining her cheeks.

Naruto face-faulted onto the ground and angrily thought, _What the hell!? I try for three goddamn _years_ and don't ever get her to admit her feelings, yet _he_ just has to win a single fucking tourney she decides to throw!?_ "Ugh! It's too unfair! Why does _he_ have to get _her_!?"

"I know!" another angry voice shouted out in agreement from within the arena's stands. "Why does Tatsumi _always_ get the girls!?"

"Oh, shut up, Lubbock!" a woman's yell rang out, followed by a cry of pain.

"Ow! What the hell was that for, Leone!?"

"For being an imbecile! We've got more important issues to be worrying about!"

"What could possibly be more important than this!?" Naruto screamed.

Leone then shouted back at him, "You shut it too, whoever you are! All you're gonna' do is just make it worse!"

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**A/N:** Well, here's this new child of mine for everyone. This idea popped up one day last week and I managed to create this chapter and a decent outline in just a few days of work, so I figured I'd go ahead and test the waters.

Naruto's presence alters many things. I hope you all will be willing to enjoy the story with me as I traverse arguably the darkest story I think I'll ever write.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

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"Another round, barkeep!" Naruto called from his stool.

"Comin' right up," the grey-haired man replied from the other side of the bar. He then poured another glass of the amber ale and told his patron, "This is your fourth one; you sure you're alright? This bit here is a pretty stout one – most only make it through two before they get piss drunk."

"I'm fine," the scarred blonde assured him, not sounding inebriated in the slightest. "It takes a _lot_ to get me buzzing, and I'm nowhere near close just yet."

The bar's owner shrugged in acceptance of his odd logic and added, "Okay. It's your funeral though, and that'd be another solid for the glass."

The haggard-looking man frowned at his glass and furrowed his brows in thought for a moment before reaching into his coin-purse and pulling out a handful of gold coins. "Give me six more after I finish that one," he grunted and followed that up by chugging down his mug of ale.

The older fellow seemed to be conflicted with himself after hearing the new proposition, but he eventually just shrugged and took the gold off the bar. He collected the few cleaned glasses from in front of his apparently-not-poor customer and went to his barrel of special ale in the back to refill them all.

"Sounds like someone's having a party over here!" a feminine voice Naruto recognized from the day before came from behind him. The voice's owner took the vacant stool on his left and asked with a big, toothy grin, "Mind if I bum one offa' ya', stranger? The old guy's Amber Specialty is probably the best this side a' the Capital, and I left my purse back home."

The man turned his head towards the woman and, after a minute, nodded to her. "I could use a drinking partner," he answered. "Drinking alone is never fun after all."

The blonde young woman sprouted a happy grin and greeted, "Name's Leone, O' Generous One. What's yours?"

The woman's cheerful personality caused Naruto's lips to twitch and he told her, "Naruto."

Leone was a buxom, fully-grown young woman who – by his estimate – was no younger than her early twenties. She had short blonde hair with two lengthy bangs which framed either side of her smiling face and bright gold eyes shining with mischief and an odd intelligence. She wore a beige scarf over her neck and had a pair of loose, three-quarter length sleeves over her arms that went up from her wrists to a pair of golden bangles over her biceps. Her brown, knee-high boots ran up into a set of leggings which had no inner-thigh covering at all, which made the man greatly curious as to how she managed to keep that attire and not seek out a change because of how breezy it must've been. The woman's modesty was covered by a single dark-colored piece of underwear showing off to the world with a matching breast band holding back her ample bosom, but it was the seemingly innocuous belt she wore that made his eyebrow rise in curiosity.

_Lionel, huh?_ he immediately recognized the Teigu due to his past with one of its former wielders.

Leone swiped one of the six glasses and gulped it down nearly as quickly as Naruto had managed. She let out a sigh in contentment after removing the mug and commented with a smack of her lips, "Ah, you're still my all-time favorite no matter how much time passes. Hey, Old Man! Did you add something more to it since last week?"

The man's eyes opened and the barkeep realized who was in front of him, "Oh, it's you, Leone. But nope; nothing new. Maybe it's because someone else is paying for it?"

"True, true," she agreed with a serious nod of her head. "There's always a certain allure that makes everything taste better off of someone else's plate."

"That there is," Naruto agreed with a solemn nod as well. "So, besides bumming off of complete strangers, what do you do, Leone?"

"I don't recall giving you permission to call me by name," she grinned playfully, "but I don't mind so long as I get to do the same to you."

"I don't mind at all."

"Good!" The vivacious woman let out a rather unladylike belch and answered his previous question, "I'm from around these parts; born and bred down here in these slums. Made a real name for myself as a little tike giving massages at a local parlor."

"You still offering?" Naruto asked, seemingly interested in her every word at this point.

"Why are you propositioning little ol' me?" she smirked at him, which he returned with an innocent shrug and a smirk of his own. She then admitted, "I still do on occasion but not real often anymore. Got myself another job now; one where I ain't gotta' offer any _happy endings_ – if ya' catch my drift," she finished with a small hiccup.

Naruto downed another glass and a little flush began to show on his disguised face. "I hear ya'," he responded with his voice beginning to slur a little from the alcohol. "So whatcha' doin' now?"

"A little of this; a little of that," the woman answered vaguely. "So what about 'chaself? I'm guessing from the cloak that you're a traveler?"

Naruto took another swig from a mug before nodding once and admitting, "Been moving around for the last decade-or-so, but I was born and raised right here in these here slums, same as you."

If possible, the woman's face brightened even further after hearing his words. She held up one of the last glasses of ale and proposed, "A toast! To two slums-souls like ourselves who've found our way back home!"

The disguised man smiled drunkenly and clinked the two mugs while slurring in agreement, "To us! To a better tomorrow today!"

"I'll drink to that!" Leone exclaimed and then the pair of drunken blondes chugged the last two mugs of ale. "Whew! Now that _really_ hit the spot there!"

"It sure did," he nodded in agreement. "Oi, Barkeep! Another few rounds for the pretty lady and miself as well!"

"You're a man after my own heart!" the beauty declared, slapping his back in hearty merriment. She then settled down a little bit and asked in a more casual tone, "So whatcha' doin' back here in the Capital, Root?"

His lone-visible eyebrow rose and he queried curiously, "Root?"

She shrugged back uncaringly, "Eh, I don't really like long names; best to keep 'em short and simple in my book, so 'Root' is what I got for ya' out of 'Naruto.' You got any better ideas?"

He actually stopped and thought about that for a minute before returning with a shrug, "Not really, but you're the first to ever come up that that'n. My mom used to always call me her 'little Naru-chan' though."

"Then Root it is!" Leone exclaimed excitedly. "So why'd ya' come back to the dreariest city in the world?"

Naruto answered, "I heard a few stories and came back to see iff'n they're true or not."

"Which ones?" she probed deeper behind her perceived drunkenness. "There's a whole buncha' rumors out there."

The blonde man hiccupped once in chorus with his drinking partner and his eyes darted around the bar in search of anyone listening in. After confirming there were none, he leaned closer to his partner and whispered, "Can you keep a secret?"

"You bet your sweet ass I can," Leone grinned. She leaned closer after completely turning towards him and asked lowly, "So what's the secret? Is it something big?"

He nodded once and his mouth opened to speak, but he stopped himself before he said anything to her. He shook his head and reminded himself, "No, no; I can't say. If I do then someone'll try and kill you too."

Leone whined in annoyance, "Oh, c'mon! Now you got me _really_ interested, Root! You can't just tease a girl that way; dangle that juicy piece a' meat and then take it away when I bite. Come on! Pretty please," she looked at him with her large eyes which oddly reminded Naruto of the cat his mother had kept as a pet when he was a kid.

Eventually his resolve crumbled and he sighed in defeat, "Oh, alright; alright! I'll tell ya' my big plan – just don't go blabbin' it around town."

"Yosh!" she smirked with a victorious fist-pump. "Still got it."

"But," he added, "I can't just _give _it ta' ya'. You need to earn it, ya' hear?"

Leone stopped and seemed to consider his words for a moment before asking him, "So whataya' want me to do?"

"Spar with me," he revealed simply. "You land a clean blow and I'll tell you a secret so big that it could very well destroy the Empire."

The buxom beauty looked dead into his eyes and then suddenly burst out laughing at his proposal. Naruto's face was absent humor as she gasped out, "Oh…Oh that's _rich_, Root; you very nearly had me there for a minute. You know, if all you wanted was a grope then all you had to do was just ask. You've got no _idea_ how many horny asses come in here and try out that same line on me, and each one's turned out to just be all bluster with no real meat to them at all." She stood up from her stool with a click of her tongue in disappointment while shaking her head, "I honestly thought there was a little more muscle to you, Root. You disappoint me."

"Fine by me," he responded with an uncaring shrug. He then finished in a cunning whisper just loud enough for her to hear as she began to walk away, "Although I do wonder just who gave you that Teigu that you've got wrapped around that sweet ass of yours, Leone."

The blonde woman stopped cold at hearing his words and her shoulders tensed, showing that he'd hit the bull's-eye. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," she attempted to casually deny, but she made no moves to escape just yet.

"Nice try," he smirked from behind his last mug of ale, "but after all the fights I had with the Ol' Asshole all those years ago I'd recognize Lionel anywhere. Now, why don't you sit back down, pretty lady, so we can talk a little bit more? I do enjoy your company, and you can stop trying to think up ways to try and kill me now. I'm not going to run to the guards – you can trust me when I say I hate the Capital as much as anybody."

Leone turned back around towards him with a large grin on her face which was to fool the casual observers, but the trained assassin in the cloak was easily able to pinpoint the signs of restrained hostility in her cheeks. "Well, why didn't you say so!?" she shouted playfully, drawing everyone in the bar's attention towards them both. The beauty then jumped onto his lap, wrapped her arms around and legs around his chest and waist, and happily exclaimed, "Why don't we go somewhere a little more _private_ so we can finish our…_discussion_?"

Jealous murmurs from the rest of the bar's patrons fell upon deaf ears as he frowned at the woman grinding on his lap. _So that's your game, eh?_ he realized quickly after assessing the situation. _Put me on the defensive by gathering all this attention and preventing me from making a move while we're in your territory. Not bad, girly, but I'm an adaptable man._ The man sprouted a lascivious grin and he drunkenly screamed out, "Hell yes! Your place or mine!?"

"Mine's not far," she answered while keeping up the ploy rather well – she gave no signs she could prevent from showing. "Just a couple streets down. You know that bookstore nobody ever shops at?"

"I do," he nodded. Naruto then sent out a mental command and he felt two of his active clones accept his new orders over the link.

"I know the owner," she told him. Leone then pulled out a set of keys from her pants' pocket and finished with a lecherous grin, "He's got a back storeroom that he keeps a bed in for when he's gotta' stay overnight. You up for a roll around in the hay?"

The man nodded once in assent to her request and then the pair of blondes both left the bar, with Leone walking next to and clinging onto him. She leaned her head on his shoulder and wrapped both of her hands around his body, pinning one of his arms between them both with her tight hold. To the casual onlooker, and judging from the many jealous glares Naruto felt on the back of his head, it seemed that a happy couple were basking in the afterglow of a wondrous night and were walking down the street for some shopping, but anyone trained to see it could notice the tension between the pair.

It took the two a few minutes of travel through the busy streets to finally locate the right bookstore. Just like usual, there were no customers, but this time the shopkeeper seemed to be nowhere to be found.

"I wonder where the bookkeeper is," Naruto mused aloud while Leone pulled the keys out from the valley of her breasts. "It's a good day for sales out here."

The door's locks gave way and she informed him, "Lubbock's off on business today, Root; won't be back until later. After you," she offered once she'd opened the door.

Naruto calmly entered the shop and idly perused the shelves lining the store while Leone locked the door behind them. She made certain the 'Closed' sign was facing outwards and closed the front windows' shades, preventing anyone from looking in and spotting them.

"Now then," she began, all playfulness now absent, "why don't you tell me how the Hell you recognized Lionel, Root?"

"Good books your friend's got here," he idly commented while he whistled once in appreciation and he pulled a copy of his mother's favorite book off of the shelf. He flipped through the tome and informed her simply, "And I knew it because I'm the one who found it fifteen years ago."

"Bullshit," she growled. "I bought Lionel from a clothing store five years ago because nobody knew it was one. It had never reacted to anyone who'd ever worn it before until I put it on."

He closed the book after reading one of the passages his mother had loved to read to him over and over again from back when he was a little kid and responded to her claim, "Then you're the first person Lionel's liked since I killed his previous wielder."

Leone's eyes sharpened at hearing his words and she took a ready stance in preparation for a fight, but Naruto made no such moves.

Without turning towards her, he continued, "Let's see… If I'm remembering right then Honest gave it to some Noble-or-other to bribe him for his support for when he planned to take over, but Lionel refused to activate for any of the fat lard's men. I guess then that they sold it since it was pretty much useless to 'em. Then you came along a few years later and charmed the big kitty."

The woman began to silently stalk about the empty store towards her prey and she demanded, "Just who the Hell _are_ you, Root? Are you one of the Minister's Assassins, or an agent of the Revolution?"

"Neither to your second guesses, and the other bit's the secret I told you about, Leone," he replied amicably, seemingly unaffected by the tension in the air. He turned towards her with a big smile on his face and told her, "You know, my offer still stands. If you can land just a single clean blow then I'll tell you just who I really am, but now I realize that a bet's not a real bet unless I can get something from you should I win."

"Just what is it _you_ want then?"

"Information," he answered easily. "If I win then you need to swear to answer a simple yes-or-no question honestly. Deal?"

Leone's gold eyes narrowed and she clarified, "What question?"

His smile remained plastered over his face and Naruto presented his terms, "Are you a member of Night Raid?"

Her eyes went wide in astonishment before they went sharp and intense again. "I don't know who you are, but now I can't let you live, Root," she growled menacingly. "Too many of our faces are known already. Nothing personal; just a part of the job." Waves of Killing Intent then washed across the store and her belt began to glow.

Unaffected by the crashing tides sent through the air, Naruto watched on with an interested eye since this was his first time witnessing Lionel's full activation first hand. Two furred, clawed paws enveloped both of Leone's hands which he knew from personal experience were exceptionally sharp. Her short blonde hair grew into a spiky, mid-back length golden mane with a pair of cat-like ears growing from each side of her scalp, and to complete the transformation a gold tail now crept out from her lower cloth and snaked itself around her waist.

Before any words could be said, Leone charged across the aisle with a single paw raised to cleave him in two. She brought her claws down even with his neck, but she was stunned to find only air where he'd been not even half-a-second before.

Leone felt a tug on one of her new ears and quickly turned only to find her foe directly in front of her, his face oddly intrigued for some reason while he held one of her added appendages. She jumped away while he complimented her appearance, "Not bad there, Leone. I'd always wondered why it was that the son of a bitch always seemed to be dressed like a cat and now I know why."

A bead of sweat traveled down Leone's face, but she otherwise showed no outward reaction to his little show of speed, impressing him with her mental fortitude. "Not bad," she offered back. "You're fast."

"That's an understatement if there ever was one, my dear," Naruto told her with a sigh. "I am _the _best at what I do."

Her feet slid out into another stance in preparation for another pounce and she asked him conversationally, "And just what might that be?"

"Kicking ass," he grinned, and then he disappeared from sight. Leone quickly reacted and punched right where his face reappeared behind her, but he managed to avoid the furred fist and complimented once more, "Good instincts. It's been a few years since anyone was able to guess my path until it was too late. I take it that's Lionel's assistance at work?"

She offered no verbal response to his query but the slight twitch of her jaw line was enough to confirm it to him. Leone offered him no room to get away and began sending flurries of punches and kicks of all types and in all directions at him. The blonde's face retained his large grin as he continued to easily evade each blurring strike seemingly with relative ease, which began to annoy his foe.

Eventually the assault ceased and Leone decided to disengage from the conflict for the moment. She jumped away from him and perched herself atop one of the largest bookshelves with her body in a four-legged crouch. Her eyes narrowed in thought and the lighting in the store that shined from the roof down onto her perched form reminded Naruto of when his mother's feline companion would perch herself atop his head and act like she owned the world.

"What's so funny, Root?" Leone growled down once she realized he was chuckling for some reason.

"Oh, nothing," he replied with a wave of his hand. "Just feeling a little nostalgic these past few days since I got back to the Capital is all."

"Tell me," she suddenly began, "why is it you're _really_ back in the Capital, Root? You deny being an Assassin and an agent, yet I'm not believing you and my instincts are screaming at me that you're a whole lot more than you show. Have you considered joining Night Raid? We're currently down a few members and I can tell you seem to have no love for the Minister. You're obviously strong enough too, so what do you say?"

"Not really interested," he dismissed lazily. "You see, I've met those assholes leading the supposed _Revolution_ and they're not really my friends after the stunt I pulled on them a little over five years ago. Najenda's alright, but I'm not really one to just do as I'm told and she's never liked any rebelliousness in her troops. So, nope."

The lion-enhanced woman frowned down at him in disappointment, "A pity really. Unfortunately, I can't let you live now regardless, as I don't think you'd let me capture you and take you prisoner. With you and Akame, though, I don't know if even Esdeath's new troupe would stand a chance."

"Word to the wise," he advised her. Naruto then moved so fast she couldn't keep track of him and he reappeared directly behind her. "Never assume you're the superior of the two combatants."

The blonde man sent a single chop of his hand to the back of his foe's neck and Leone's entire body went completely limp. Her listless limbs caused her to fall to her side and off of the bookcase towards the floor, but Naruto caught her before she could smash into the solid flooring a story below.

He gently laid her on the ground and scolded her, "Stop playing possum, Leone. The nerve I just hit only temporarily paralyzed you from the neck-down; I know you're still conscious."

Leone's gold eyes opened and she simply told him, resigned to her fate now, "Just do what you will and make it quick. If you're going to rape me, then do it while I'm still warm."

A lone bemused chuckle came from the man and he reiterated, "You can relax, you big baby, I'm not going to hurt you or run to the guards; trust me when I say that would only create more problems than the both of us could handle. No, I only want you to honor the arrangement we made earlier. So, yes or no, are you a member of Night Raid?"

"I'd have figured that the past few minutes was proof of that," she mumbled bitterly.

"So is that a yes or a no?"

Leone took in a steadying breath and she figured aloud, "I suppose there's no point in denying it since I'm about to die anyways. Yes, I am a member of Night Raid. You won't get the names of the others out of me no matter how hard you try though, so don't bother – I _won't_ break."

"That's a little over-dramatic, don't you think? Besides, I just got what I wanted out of you," Naruto chirped with a happy grin. He then pinched another nerve on the side of her neck and told her just before she fell unconscious, "If you want to beat me though you'll need to try _much_ harder next time, Little Girl."

* * *

"Tatsumi," Akame whispered to herself. She then finished strapping on her forearm guards and drew Murasame from its sheath. "Please stay safe."

The dark-haired young woman closed her eyes and took in a steadying breath, feeling the slight breeze waft its way across the training ground. After a few moments passed, the wind died and her crimson eyes opened, cold and sharp.

She dashed across the training grounds, weaving her way through the traps Lubbock had laid earlier at her request. The assassin ducked under an arrow and quickly back-flipped away from a large axe that fell right where she'd just been. The girl's hair spun around her as she landed and turned on her toes so she could slash the first dummy's throat.

After removing the first of her targets, she dashed to her right and slid underneath the razor-thin wire-trap that had been waist high. Her extended leg's heel met a small rock and she used that to propel herself back to her feet before she slashed the next target's throat and moved on to the next one.

For the next hour she continued to seamlessly avoid any harms on her person and consigned each of her planned targets with ease. When she finally stood up and took in her handiwork she felt pleased with herself when she spied that all sixty-four targets' necks had been slashed cleanly by her Teigu's blade.

Akame then looked down at herself to ascertain any damage she'd received from the obstacle course and frowned in dissatisfaction at what she saw. "Still got a ways to go," she reminded herself while one of her gloved hands grasped her tie – which had now been cut in half at some point in the earlier exchange. _Why must this happen when the Boss is gone?_ she couldn't help but wonder bitterly.

With both her and Mine, now, unable to safely go into the Capital for reconnaissance and Tatsumi kidnapped by Esdeath she was running out of potential ideas. When Lubbock and Leone had returned with that grave news yesterday Akame had desperately wished to help her precious comrade but she'd known that Mine was right; she couldn't risk everyone's lives for the sake of a single person, no matter who they were.

"It's the burden of leadership," she recited from memory. She looked up into the sky and asked, "Why can't I be as strong as you, sensei? If I was then I could protect everyone and I'd never lose anyone again. I try hard every day, but I'm still so far behind you I don't know if I can even see you yet."

Esdeath was a foe Akame knew that she had no chance against as things stood unless_ everything_ went in her favor: The General was simply too powerful, too intelligent, and too dangerous for anyone in Night Raid to face as they were now. It was a sobering thought, and it wasn't one she liked to think about too much, but she couldn't rid herself of it in the past twenty-four hours.

Akame shook her head of such thoughts and sealed her blade back in its sheath. She walked over to the towel Mine had left for her and she wiped the sweat off of her brow that had accumulated from her training session. She then checked the time and noted to herself, "There's still a few hours until Leone and Lubbock are supposed to be back, so I guess I can go collect some more tuna for dinner tonight."

The Night Raid chef then grabbed her large wicker basket and went out to the same waterfall she'd brought Tatsumi to when he was under her domain. She stripped down to her white two-piece bathing suit and looked down into the pool of water below, spying a few schools of the right fish. The girl then dove into the pool and began throwing the tuna out of the water and into the basket she'd left on the bluff a hundred feet above the water.

After changing back into her usual dress an hour later she returned to the relocated base with another collection of fish to cook for everyone. As she approached the entrance, she spied a dot of pink sitting in a chair atop the base's roof watching the approaching pathway.

"Mine!" Akame called up. "Do you see them yet?"

"Not yet!" Mine shouted back down. "They've still got thirty minutes though!"

"Okay! I'm going to go get dinner started!"

"I'll be down in a minute!"

The dark-haired chef-slash-killer nodded up to her comrade and made her way into the base and to the kitchen. Once there she began to prepare the food and her consistent practice over the stove allowed her to get most of the meal prepared and finished before Leone and Lubbock had returned.

The sound of hysterical laughter broke Akame out of her concentration after twenty minutes of working on the meal. Curious as to why she could hear Lubbock and Mine laughing like a pair of hyenas she walked out of the kitchen and into the dining room, deciding to also go ahead and grab the plates so she could set the table.

Akame walked into the dining room and found that Leone was sulking in her seat at the table and was staring straight down at the ground at her feet. Lubbock and Mine were both grasping their sides while they rolled on the floor, both laughing so hard that each had tears in their eyes.

Blinking in shock at the sight and remaining rooted to her spot just inside the doorway, Akame's head glanced around at each of them and asked curiously, "What's so funny?"

"H-H-Her _face_!" Lubbock shrieked between his gasps for breath.

"Oh…Oh _God_ that's hilarious!" Mine gasped.

"I'm gonna' kill him," Leone mumbled without raising her head. "I swear I'm gonna' kill that blonde bastard for this."

Akame's eyes were large, showing her confusion at hearing all of this, while she thought, _What is going on here?_ She then asked Leone for information, "Did someone attack you, Leone, while you were gathering information?"

"…You could say that," the older woman confirmed meekly in a small voice.

"You could also say I really wanna' meet this guy!" Lubbock chimed in happily. "If he did this to you, then I've got to meet him and shake his hand!"

Akame's head tilted to the side and she queried, "Just what happened out there today? Leone, report."

She then recited to them without ever raising her head, "I was out doing my recon in the slums like I usually do and I came across a person drinking alone at the bar. I got the feeling that he was worth talking to so I joined him for a few minutes for a few beers and I thought he made a pass at me, but now I'm not so sure of that. I got up to leave then, but he blackmailed me into staying with him by telling me he somehow recognized Lionel.

"I quickly drew as much attention to us as possible and then forced him to go with me someplace isolated; I chose Lubbock's bookstore because I had the key, it was empty, and it was my home turf. After I locked the door I tried to get him to tell me just who the Hell he was but he refused to unless I played his game. He told me he'd tell me exactly who he really was if I could land a clean blow on him, but if I lost then I needed to answer if I was in Night Raid or not.

"Naturally," she continued on through the suddenly absent laughter, "I knew right then that he at the very least suspected I was so I couldn't let one of us leave the store alive. I activated Lionel and tried to pounce on him, but he was too fast and quick for me to land a punch or kick; he seemed to make it look effortless when he dodged me. I was able to predict his path once, and then I guess he just amped up the speed even further in response to keep me from doing so again.

"I realized then that he wasn't going to be an easy kill at all, so I disengaged and attempted to buy a little time for Lubbock to get back and help. I then asked him if he'd be willing to join us because I could tell from when we'd talked at the bar that he hates the Prime Minister something fierce, but he shot me down; claimed he wanted nothing to do with the Revolution at all.

"The guy then just…_disappeared_ from my senses – even with Lionel activated – entirely and managed to paralyze my body below my neck. At that point I was certain I was dead meat, so I admitted to him that I was in Night Raid. He then pinched my neck again and knocked me out cold, but not before that arrogant asshole rubbed my defeat in my face."

The room was deathly silent once she'd finished recounting her tale, all prior humor completely gone now. Akame calmly digested all the information and assessed the situation before she prompted Leone to finish, "Just what did he say to you at the end, Leone?"

The blonde let out a dissatisfied exhale and repeated for her, "'If you want to beat me though you'll need to try _much_ harder, Little Girl.'"

Akame's red eyes shot completely open in her shock and she dropped the plates she'd been holding in her hands, shattering them upon the ground. Both Lubbock and Mine looked over at their temporary leader curiously while she reeled, _No. That's… It can't be…_ "Leone," she sternly requested, "did this man give you his name?"

"Naruto," the older woman revealed. "That's all he gave me."

Akame's dark hair flew behind her as she quickly dashed across the room and appeared in front of the blonde woman. She then asked her, "Just before you got knocked out, did he do anything to you? Anything at all?"

Leone answered her, "He didn't rape me, if that's what you're asking, Akame."

"How do you know for certain he didn't do anything though?" Lubbock queried, all humor from earlier drained away from his face.

"I've been around it enough to know the signs," the buxom woman informed him. She then listed off, "There were no additional fluids, no pain between my legs, and all my clothes were still intact and on my body. He had the chance but didn't do it."

"Well that's a sight," Mine commented while crossing her arms over her chest. "For once someone doesn't rape a defenseless girl; I'm somewhat in shock."

Akame ignored all of that and requested with an unfamiliar anxiety, "Leone, please show me your face. I promise that whatever he did I won't laugh."

"Mine said the same thing," she responded bitterly.

"Eh, it was a promise I just couldn't keep no matter how hard I tried," Mine shrugged without remorse.

"Please," Akame repeated, and Leone did as she had been asked. The red-eyed young woman sucked in a shocked breath at what she saw and she felt a single tear fall from her right eye at the sight: Six black whiskers had been drawn on Leone's face. _It is,_ she confirmed.

"The kitty-cat has her own whiskers now," Lubbock grinned.

"Shut up, Lubbock!" Leone shouted back threateningly. "I tried for two _hours_ to wash this shit off but nothing I tried worked." She then went stiff and asked, "Uh, just what are you doing, Akame?"

She ignored everything else going on around her and just blankly stared at the marked whiskers. Eventually she simply licked her thumb and wiped it on one of the markings.

"Ew!" Mine and Lubbock grimaced.

"What-What-What the Hell, Akame!?" Leone screamed from the spot across the room that she'd retreated to, her face flushed behind her whiskers.

Akame merely informed her, "Confirming something. Also, that type of ink only comes off when saliva is wiped on it; no other liquid works for some reason."

All three other members of Night Raid blinked dumbly to her words. "Huh?" Leone asked, and then she touched her face to confirm her words. Her gold eyes went wide and she exclaimed after confirming, "You're right, Akame! I can't believe it though," she added in a mumble. "Really? Saliva?"

The temporary leader of the group of assassins was completely oblivious to the entire subsequent conversation between the other three. _It is him – it has to be,_ she told herself with conviction in her certainty. _He's the only one I know of who could and would do all that Leone said he did. The only thing I don't know though,_ she thought while her hand tightly gripped her blade's hilt, _is how he's still alive. I still have the proof that he died, so how?_ "Leone," she suddenly spoke up, cutting off the banter going on, "can you find this 'Naruto' again before midnight?"

Her gold eyes showed her confusion to the request but she nodded, "Yeah, no problem. Dude's not trying to draw attention to himself, but he isn't really going out of his way to hide either. Why?"

"Because all this was a message," she told everyone, stunning them silent, "and I intend to answer with one of my own."

Mine, Lubbock, and Leone all sprouted vicious smirks after hearing her plan and Leone asked her, "And just what kind of message would you like me to deliver, Boss?"

"When you find him, and he won't be hard to," Akame then instructed, "tell him that we got his message. Then you are to take him out of the Capital to Rendezvous Point Beta. If he wants proof, then tell him this: 'The blood here is as red as the moon.' Don't worry; he'll know what it means. I'll meet you both there."

"Roger that, Akame," Leone continued to smirk.

Akame's grip tightened further on Murasame's crimson hilt and she felt like she could hear her Teigu singing from this news. A feeling of excitement, nervousness, and anxiety pierced her thoughts while she swore to herself, _I promised I'd make you proud, sensei, and tonight I'm going to prove it to you._

* * *

Naruto leaned against the trunk of a large pine in the dense forest that surrounded the Capital's outer walls. He continued to whistle one of his mother's favorite lullabies as he looked up at the moon and felt his face twitch.

_So I was right all along, _he thought with a small smile. The man's lone-visible eye drifted down and towards his current company and he assured her, "You can relax, Leone; I promise I'm not going to bite you."

"Forgive my skepticism," Leone responded, not sounding apologetic in the slightest, "but you didn't leave the best first impression earlier, Root."

"Need I remind you that it was _you_ who attacked me first," he grinned back cheekily. "So if we were being technical then all I did earlier was entirely out of self-defense; I do wonder why you thought I'd be willing to join you after you attacked me though."

She shrugged once and replied to him, "Eh, that's how most of us were recruited anyway, so I figured 'why not?' But that was cruel of you to mark me like you did, Root."

Naruto smirked and teased, "But don't lion's usually mark their preferred mates, Leone?"

"Not like that," she informed him with a rueful shake of her head.

"I can do it the other way, if you'd rather," he grinned at her, and then he noticed another scent in the air. _She's here,_ he thought while schooling his face into a neutral expression. The former assassin then turned his head towards the new presence and his cerulean eye locked with both of her red ones.

The two most immediately recognizable features of the new young woman there were her hair – blacker than a new moon and so long that it fell below her thighs – and her eyes: red as the rivers of blood she'd spilled. Her choice of attire was a sleeveless dark mini-dress that fluttered over the middle of her toned thighs in the nightly breeze that had a red skirt-armor covering her left hip which was held up by a crimson belt. Around her neck was a necktie the same color as her forearm gauntlets: Blood-red. And strapped to her side and within its sealed sheath Naruto spied the crimson hilt of her Bladed Teigu – Murasame.

Naruto pushed himself off of the tree and walked out to the other side of the small clearing. He pulled out a knife and suddenly cut off the lengthy locks of hair hiding his scar, revealing it also to the world at-large as well now. He held his closed hand out in front of him and opened his palm upwards, the blonde strands being blown away by the night's gentle wind. The man then gripped his cloak and tossed it into the air behind him, now showing his own attire to his opponent.

The man wore a sleeveless, skin-tight orange tunic and black pants that latched onto his legs just as tightly as his shirt did to his torso. Along both his arms' entire lengths ran a pair of dark lines that ended in the center of his palms, and down the outwards seams of his leggings was a single helix-curve white line that ended even with his ankles. He wore a pair of deep-black boots over his feet, and in the center of his shirt's back was a swirling red symbol which resembled a whirlpool – the symbol of his mother's family.

He viciously smirked across the way at his unfazed opponent, who simply gripped her sword's hilt tightly and pulled it from its scabbard. The bright light of the moon above glinted off of the polished blade's surface menacingly as she held the katana out before her, facing its edge towards him.

Naruto chuckled once and the edge of his lips twitched upwards at the sight in front of him. His arm then shot towards the girl and a small projectile rocketed through the air directly towards her, but the dark-haired assassin merely leaned her head to the side to avoid it. The small knife sailed by her head, blowing her hair slightly as it went by, and dug its entire six-inch length into the trunk of a tree behind her with a dull 'thud.'

The signal given, the red-eyed teen then shot across the clearing with Murasame singing through the air at her side. Naruto jumped over her horizontal slash that had been even with his hips and pushed his booted heel off of the blade's back in order to jump far enough away to avoid the next swipe at his neck.

Two daggers were pulled out of his pants and he brandished both in each of his extended arms before leaping towards his opponent once more. He slashed at the young woman at speeds many couldn't hope to see, but she danced away from each of his blades with a graceful ease no mere dancer could ever hope to compare to. She eventually ducked underneath one of his high cuts and delivered a straight kick directly into his center, sending him skidding along the ground and away from her.

She then sprinted forward again, but was forced to slow her advance in order to deflect both of the daggers Naruto threw at her, which allowed him just enough time to adequately recuperate from her stronger-than-expected blow. The man somersaulted over the sprinting girl and landed a few feet behind her, but he was again forced on the defensive once more due to her immediately pivoting on her foot and her spinning the blade in a deadly arc directed at his jugular.

Naruto's grin was practically maniacal as he was pushed back while continuing to avoid Murasame's cursed, deadly blade. He eventually jumped a fair distance away from his foe and then stomped the ground once, causing a tremor to rumble across the battlefield that shook the very earth beneath them and forced his enemy to stop her offensive in order to keep her feet.

The man quickly took his provided chance and delivered a solid punch that dug into the young woman's stomach. The girl grunted from the impact and was sent flying through the air until she fell to the ground hard and continued to roll a good twenty meters away from him. Murasame's bladed edge fell from the sky and pierced the ground just a mere three feet away from where she came to rest on the ground, prone.

_Not bad,_ Naruto calculated with his smile briefly faltering on his face. _She didn't want to risk being cut by Murasame's blade in the tumble on the ground so she threw it into the air just before she hit it. You've gotten much better, Girly._ He then ducked under a sudden kick aimed at his head and scolded the other girl's timely intervention, "Don't you know it's rude to intrude on a touching reunion, Leone?"

"Bullshit," the Lionel-enhanced woman growled at him with a feral snarl while she brandished her clawed paws in front of her. "Like Hell I'm gonna' let you go in for the kill while I'm here."

Before he could berate her for her assumptions and lack of understanding the situation, the other member of Night Raid shakily called out, "Leone, stand aside. He's my opponent."

The golden-eyed woman looked back at her friend attempting to shakily stand and screamed in disbelief, "Have you gone completely _bonkers_!? Look at yourself! I know how strong you are, Akame, and it's not easy to get you so beat-up. This guy's too much for only one of us to take on."

"I know," Akame informed her, "but he's always been like that. Even still, you need to stand aside, Leone; this is my battle and I will fight it. That's an _order_," she added icily when her friend made no move to desist.

Leone shook her head but didn't allow her eyes to leave the observing blonde man. She responded without remorse, "Then that's an order I'm gonna' have to refuse, Akame. I won't let you fight him alone; I _won't _let you die."

The sound of an amused snort of laughter came from the lone male present, yet it wasn't a kind of insane laughter. "I see you've found some good comrades, haven't you, Akame?" he noted as he watched the scene. "I do believe that's enough for the night though, don't you?"

Leone's eyes narrowed at him and she demanded, "Just what the hell are you talking about?"

"I mean," he clarified for the respectably skeptical woman, "that I'm done fighting; I've seen what I wanted to." He then let his tightly-wound body visibly relax and drained the tension from himself, and then he began to walk towards Akame, who was holding onto Murasame like a crutch.

"No!" Akame protested vehemently with a refusing shake of her head. "I can still fight! I'm not done yet!"

Naruto merely kept walking towards the girl; Leone watched him closely, but made no hostile movements so long as he didn't. "But I am," he informed the girl evenly. Eventually he stopped right in front of the shivering girl and he gently smiled down at her. One of his hands rested over one of hers atop Murasame's hilt, making her inhale sharply, and he told her softly, "It's over, Akame. If you're going to ever beat me then you'll need to try a lot harder next time."

The black-haired girl sniffed once and looked upwards with her eyes large and their corners showing the beginnings of tears. Her lip quivered as she timidly asked, "Are…Are you really back, sensei?"

This elicited a frown from the man and he flicked her on the nose in response, making her squeak in pain and hold one gauntleted hand over it. He scolded her, "I thought I told you the last time we saw each other that you were to never call me that again."

Akame's nose was as red as her shocked wide eyes and she hurriedly tired to tell him, "I swear I didn't mean all that I said three years ago! I didn't know why you left yet, and I was still so angry because you left us, and I wanted to just hurt you as much as you did me, and I –"

She squeaked again when he cut her off by flicking her in the nose one more time and he informed the girl, "I knew all that then, and I know all that now. I never hated you, Akame, not even after all you said that day. If I did then I'd have never come back to the Capital in the first place."

She looked up and timidly asked, "So…So you're not…"

He smiled gently to her and reiterated, "No, and I never was. All I've ever been is proud of you, Akame, and that's still not changed even after all these years."

A pair of tears trailed down her cheeks and she sniffled, "I…I…I…" She then buried her face into his chest and wrapped her arms around him, crying out, "You're back! You're back! I thought for so long that you'd died! I can't believe you're back!"

He placed one hand atop her shaking scalp and let the other come to rest on her back to comfort the emotional girl he remembered, just like he used to have to do all those years ago. He smiled at his former disciple, "How could I go and die and leave my darling little ones behind? I'd have never forgiven myself." Naruto allowed a lone tear to drip onto her head and he whispered softly, "But yeah, Akame, I'm back, and this time it's for good. I won't ever leave again; I promise you."

* * *

**A/N:** Here's Chapter Two for you all. I apologize for the wait but it seems that my course-load this semester on top of my job doesn't allow me much free time anymore. Unfortunately, this means updates shouldn't be expected consistently for the next few months. Rest assured, there will be more for all of my stories, I just can't be certain as to how many and when they will happen.

I feel like an ass for having to go back on my promise to all my readers, but this doesn't pay the bills or build me any resume' points.

I still love you all, so don't think I don't. I will return and I will continue to put out kickass chapters that generate your interest and make more people want to come back.

Spread the word! Let your friends know of the story if you think they might be interested, as that's the best way for a reader to show support for a writer: Generate more interest!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

* * *

Naruto's bright cerulean eyes panned up towards the noon-day sun and he was able to quickly figure out the time. _Three hours until when I told Akame I'd meet the rest of Night Raid – just enough time to take care of this._

He pulled his hooded cowl over his face further and began to carefully navigate the crowded Main Street. The blonde man kept one hand on his relatively fat coin purse and his eyes darted around in search of the right building.

_There,_ he finally spied the target's business. He turned to his left then and snaked his way through the mid-day bustle until he arrived at his destination a few minutes later.

"Nice to meet you," the young red-haired desk clerk greeted him. "Do you have an appointment, Mister…"

"No, I'm afraid I don't, young ma'am," he responded amicably but chose not to reveal his face to her. He forcibly blocked out the smell of sweat and copious amounts of perfume that covered the business' clientele's exploits. Naruto then pulled out a single coin, placed it on the desk, and continued, "You see, I'm an old friend of Dani's who's been traveling the last few years. I'm only back in the Capital for a few days and I wanted to see how my old friend has been."

Wariness and a nervous air surrounded the girl while her eyes shifted back and forth from his hidden face and the gold piece. She attempted to hide a gulp and managed a small, albeit scared, smile as she informed him, "Oh, I'm terribly sorry but the owner isn't in today. The Mistress is meeting a few clients privately." She slowly took the piece of gold, pocketed it, and finished telling him, "If you'd like I could give you the appropriate address."

Naruto suppressed the frown that wanted to appear at discovering this delay and instead nodded gratefully, "That would be fine, and thank you for your help, miss."

The young woman then wrote down the personal address of the owner and Naruto departed while hiding a sinister smirk. If the clients were who he believed they were then he was a truly lucky man.

The assassin melted into the sea of herding people and a rather plain-looking older man with grey streaks in his hair approached him. "We're already confirming, Boss," the man whispered to him without stopping.

"Good," he replied simply and then continued on his way alone. _Even if the Jaegers were here today there'd be no way to predict this,_ the whiskered assassin thought with a wry smile. _Dani's not even heard of outside of certain…_circles_, after all._

Throngs of humans faded behind Naruto as he calmly walked away from Main Street and into the Diamond-Residential Quarter of the Capital. The amount of sheer affluence on open display in every direction disgusted the man greatly but he instead schooled his mind and slipped off into the shadows of an alleyway and melted into darkness.

The man quickly and quietly scaled the alley's brick wall until his fingers eventually gripped the crest of the wall. He waited patiently as the footsteps of a single patrolman lazily traipsed by and he silently vaulted onto the wall. A single dagger appeared in the man's hand and he crept by the guard without being noticed atop the rampart.

_Too easy,_ he smirked to himself as he ducked behind a roof garden and observed the mansion's guard below. _Let's see… I spy four spotters on the roof, thirteen ground patrols, and probably six-to-ten personal bodyguards inside. This'll be fun. Challenge One: Don't kill any of the meat shields._

A sudden commotion then clambered over the mansion's walls that sent every guardsman to meet its cause. Clangs of steel meeting steel rang out in the air for numerous minutes while Naruto patiently awaited the right moment, and that moment came when a call for reinforcements rang out and brought eight members of the resident's elite guard to solidify the front line.

Naruto grew a crooked smirk while he clicked his tongue and shook his head in disappointment, _Oh poor Dani. You're still this predictable? You and Honest's little pet have lost the paranoia that made you such an impossible target three years ago._

He then jumped down from the wall and landed in a lush garden that had all kinds of flowers in full bloom for any guests to see. Naruto stopped when his eyes located a crimson flower with a gold center and he walked over to it.

"Mom's favorite," he breathed out in awe. The man reached for it with steady hands and carefully picked the delicate flower from its stem. Naruto grew a soft smile and he murmured nostalgically, "Still as beautiful as she was."

He lost himself to his memories momentarily before reminding himself of his purpose at the moment. The assassin placed the flower over his ear, turned away from the garden, and walked into the mansion proper.

His sharp hearing detected multiple shouts getting closer and he ducked into a shadowed alcove just before another dozen guards stampeded down the hall and out into the garden. _I was seen. Sloppy!_ he scolded himself harshly. _Damn me and my nostalgia! Now this just got ten times harder._ After a moment of pondering his plan he simply shrugged uncaringly, _Oh well. If I know Dani and that fucker then they and her clients have now retreated to her private Panic Room believing they'll be safe. Little do they know that I know this place better than both of them._

Mentally going over the layout of the mansion he'd studied for the past few days allowed him to decide on the best course of action. He silently departed from his hiding place and walked in a silent crouch until he came to a small painting of a fruit basket. The blonde quickly made certain there was no one else close before examining the painting closely and pressing the lone grape that wasn't attached to the rest. The painting and the wall behind it then depressed back and slid to the side, revealing a small and narrow crawlspace which led directly to the Panic Room. The assassin pulled his entire body into the passage and then pulled the chain which slid the piece of wall and painting back into place behind him.

Naruto didn't allow his mind to wander as he silently crept through the damp passageway for approximately fifteen minutes until he finally began to hear voices echo along the solid walls. With his devious grin growing ever larger he slowed down and continued to advance while he listened in on the group's conversation.

"Please be calm, my loves," Dani's soothing voice requested of the guests. Naruto shook his head of his unwanted memories at the moment while she spoke, "My men are handling the situation as we speak. They were all men who were once considered for the Imperial Guard so it is only a matter of time."

"The Lady is correct," a deep voice Naruto immediately recognized echoed the sentiment. "My men are fully capable of handling this. We spotted the assassin a few moments ago in the garden and his body will be brought here without delay."

_Oh I wouldn't be so sure of that,_ Naruto grinned devilishly.

"Do we have any idea as to his identity yet?"

"Is it Night Raid?"

"We don't believe so," the Guard Captain assured the two Nobles. "Night Raid's attacks have only ever occurred at night; this isn't them. We believe that it's a group of people who are dissatisfied with both of your policies."

There was a slight pause before one Noble said, "Well, we _have_ made a few enemies in our day."

"That's only natural when we ally ourselves with the Minister."

"Indeed," Naruto's flippant voice cut through the Panic Room's tense atmosphere. "You'd think people woulda' leaned by now that Honest's ship is starting to sink."

The assassin was sitting in the crawlspace's exit with one leg lazily hanging down and his other knee pulled up with his head resting on it. The portrait of the previous Emperor had been pushed aside and his face was completely hidden by his hood's shadow, keeping anyone from recognizing him before he wished them to.

All four people already in the room were dressed with disgustingly extravagant attire. Both Nobles had graying hair and wore a gold-and-blue tunic that illustrated their Noble status and their individual Houses. The Guard Captain was wearing a set of decorative light armor that had numerous awards emblazoned onto his chest with a steel greatsword on his hip and a small beret atop his black-haired scalp.

Naruto's primary target, however, still looked as beautiful as she did nearly twenty years ago in her late-teens. She wore a dazzling orange dress with yellow-and-gold embroidery all along it that had a long slit that showed off her long, slender, and alabaster thigh. Her above-average bust was showed off brazenly by her dress' low neck-line and had a dazzlingly bright diamond necklace that rested between her breasts.

The assassin's face turned into a tight frown at seeing the necklace. _So she took that too,_ he silently noted and added it to his list.

"Who are you and what do you want?" one of the Nobles demanded from behind the Guard Captain while the man drew his blade.

"Me? I'm just a dead man looking for some company," he responded with an uncaring shrug. Before anyone could even react to his statement he suddenly flashed across the room and slit the Guard Captain's throat with his eyes frozen behind his hood.

The man's eyes widened in shock and recognition once he was able to finally see Naruto's face behind the shadows. His hands dropped the blade and tried I vain to stymie his bleeding and preserve his life, but the middle-aged man was forced to fall to on his face once all life left his eyes and he lost too much blood.

The cowering Nobles were each slain immediately following the Captain: Naruto drove a knife through the first's temple and another small blade deep into the other's left eye. Crimson life-blood spouted from each fallen fool's wound and coated the room's bed.

Dani's body was rigid in shock and horror until she managed to shakily reach her hand up to touch her blood-covered face. Her now crimson hand met her brown eyes' sight and her mouth opened to scream, but Naruto stopped her by covering her mouth with his hand and forced her to sit on the blood-soaked mattress. Her panicky eyes found all three corpses in her room and she stared at the killer in her room with nothing but absolute terror reflecting on her face.

"Now, now," Naruto calmly shushed her. "No need to draw so much attention, my Lady. You heard who my targets were _supposed_ to be; why would I kill you?" Her reply was muffled so he asked her, "If I remove my hand will you scream?" She hurriedly shook her head in the negative and he then removed her impromptu gag.

"Who-Who are you?" she asked him, her body shivering.

"I already answered that question, my dear," he told her. "I'm only a dead man looking for some company."

"And-And I'm that…_company_," she concluded. "Is that why I'm not d-d-dead?"

"Perhaps," he smiled at her. "You see, I've had my eye on you for quite some time, Dani."

"You-You have?" she squeaked.

"Oh my, yes," he nodded to her. "I used to admire you so much, Dani. You were the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen," he whispered adoringly while he tucked a loose strand of her black hair behind her ear.

"I-I was?" she stammered out.

"Oh, yes," he reiterated while he held her chin with one hand and the other disappeared beneath the dress' hem. The woman let out a pitiable whimper as his fingers ran over her still-dripping holes. "I see you still prefer multiple men at once," he commented as she attempted to stifle another whimper when his fingers wiped the semen over her womanhood and rear. "Nearly twenty years and you still haven't changed. Do you still take woman as well, my dear?"

Tears welled up in her terrified brown eyes and she shakily begged, "Please. I haven't done anything; I beg of you. The Minister made me his private whore decades ago. I don't pleasure these men willingly!"

"Shh," he placed a finger covered in the dead Nobles' semen in her mouth to silence her. "I'm well-aware of how long Honest has pimped you out to his loyal followers. Now lick my finger clean."

Her fearful eyes went up to his shadowed face, silently begging him to stop. He simply nodded for her to continue and she whimpered piteously once more before licking his finger clean and swallowing the seed.

"Good girl," he patted her cheek with his saliva-soaked hand.

"Please," she hiccupped while tears finally fell from her eyes. "I beg of you – please don't hurt me. I'll do anything you want."

"Oh, dear Dani," Naruto told her softly while gripping her chin and making her look at his hidden face again, "this isn't about what I _want_ this is about what you've _earned_."

"What…What I've _earned_?" she repeated with confusion all over her face.

"Oh, yes," he reiterated with a nod. "While you _are_ Honest's private slut you've lived pretty well for the past few decades, haven't you? A mansion here in the Diamond Quarter, a private whorehouse of your very own, and your competitors being put out of business," he finished while one of his hands gripped the dazzling necklace hanging from her neck, "permanently."

Dani gulped nervously and she asked him hesitantly, "Just…Just who are you…really?"

"Oh, my dear Aunt Dani," he scolded her playfully, "have you truly gone and forgotten your favorite little nephew?"

Her face showed confusion once more at hearing his words for a moment until comprehension dawned and all color drained from her face. "N-Naruto?" she stammered fearfully. "You-You're _alive_?"

He pulled back his shadowed hood, revealing his whiskered and grinning face and informed her, "I'm not so easy to kill, dear Auntie." The man's face then darkened and he added in a dangerously low voice, "You could say I got that from my _mother_."

Dani winced at hearing the venom in his words and she quickly tried to say, "I-I _swear_ I had no idea he was –"

"Silence," he cut her off darkly while she was suddenly forced to attempt to loosen his tight grip on her delicate neck while he lifted her off the bed and her legs dangled in the air. "You broke the Mother's Creed when you told him about us and you know it. The only reason you have lived this long is because I didn't discover your treachery until I unraveled the entire conspiracy when I was forced to leave the Capital." His eyes burned with an icy fury none could hope to compare to and he pulled her gasping face closer to his and concluded, "Even if you weren't in the room that night your hands are stained with Mom's blood, and today I'm going to give you just what you've earned, _Auntie_."

He then released his hold on her neck and she crumpled on the floor while desperately inhaling all the air that she could. Naruto stood over her like a demon come to deliver judgment upon a sinful soul while she slowly pushed herself off of the ground and started to regain her breath.

Morose, resigned chuckles came from the woman and she looked at him with tears of sorrow and regret dripping from her chin and onto the floor. "You're right, Naruto," she answered his accusations without attempting to deny them. "I never wanted to hurt you or your mother, but I still did it and have yet to pay for my sins. Before you kill me, will you let me have one last talk with the boy I cared for?"

Naruto was silent for a moment before nodding and allowing her, "Out of respect for the woman you once were."

"Thank you, my dearest boy," Dani sincerely told him. She then stood up from the floor, ignoring the blood and corpses surrounding her with her eyes only on her soon-to-be killer. Her voice was laden with her emotions as she began, "I'm so terribly sorry for everything my selfish actions led to, Naruto. I know you probably don't believe me when I say I loved you and your mother as if you were both my own blood, but I really did.

"Your mother was the best out of all of us and everyone was jealous of her beauty, Naruto. I looked up to her and I still see her smiling face in my nightmares; I just know that she has been mocking me and my idiotic selfishness every night. Kushi was the next in line to become Mother when she met your_ father_," she spat out with disgust at the term 'father.' "If I'd known – no, if I'd even had an _inkling_ of what would come of my foolish actions then I would have left my dagger in his neck before he even left my room – consequences be damned.

"But nothing I can ever do would ever make up for all the pain you've had to go through," she confessed to him with a hitch in her voice. She started to finally walk across the room and towards him with nothing but genuine compassion in her eyes as she continued, "You were the son I never could have and had I known I swear I would have ran away with you that night – disappeared from the Empire completely and hide you with the Revolution if I had to.

"My fondest memories were of teaching you how to read and write, staying up reading you to sleep when your mom couldn't because of work, and so many others where you just slept on my lap on into the night." She finally stood directly before his impassive face with a mournful, loving, resigned smile on her face while she reached up with one of her shaking hands and lightly rested it on one of his whiskered cheeks. "I know I've wronged you beyond forgiveness, Naruto, but please, _please_ believe me when I say this that I mean it with all of my heart: I have made love with many men and even women in my life…but no one has ever taken up as much of my heart as you. Even now, I love you more than anyone, my dearest Naruto."

Naruto said nothing in response to her confessions and she wrapped him in a hug while sobbing on his shoulder and they remained fixed in that position for a few minutes. Not even a single flicker of emotion showed on his face, and his body remained still even with the woman shaking on him.

Dani then spoke with a slight break in her voice through her crying, "I know I don't deserve it…but can you please make it quick? I've known this day would come and I'm finally ready to die. There's so many things I need to make up for and your mother's the first person I intend to find on the other side." She pushed herself off of him and her loving brown eyes met his expressionless cerulean ones and she whispered, "Goodbye, Naruto."

Naruto closed his eyes and took in a deep, steadying breath. He then plunged his knife directly into her heart. Her eyes went lifeless and she limply slid off of his body. She fell onto the floor in a disheveled clump and never stirred again.

The man stood rooted to that spot for a moment until he finally felt a single tear streak down the side of his face. Naruto kneeled down next to his target's still-warm corpse and sniffed, "I loved you too, Auntie. I wish…that we could go back to those blissful days…but we can't. All we can do is keep moving forward and try to make the best of it. When I found out it was _you_…I-I didn't want to believe it.

"All those memories are still some of _my_ most precious too," he tried to stop the overflow of emotions. Tears began to flow and he pushed on, "You always took the time to keep me happy even though you wound up losing clients because of me. I loved how you…how you… I'm so sorry!" he cried out.

The vulnerable assassin sat there crying over his latest kill for what felt like an extended eternity with the only sound being the echo of his sobs in the sealed off Panic Room. Tears continued to fall off of his face and onto the peaceful-looking woman's blissfully smiling face while the emotions he'd tried so hard to suppress washed over him with the force of a natural disaster.

Hundreds of memories from his too-short childhood spent with his last kill swam through his body. His heart hurt more and more as each beautiful smile he remembered flashed in front of his eyes and amplified the guild clawing in his chest. He could still feel how safe he felt in her arms whenever he had shivered into her bosom – whether it be from a thunderstorm in the middle of the night, a nightmare, or even people picking on him because of his whisker-like birthmarks. He still remembered how she would sneak sweets out of the kitchen and share them with him in secret. He still remembered the pranks she showed him and how she introduced him to the meticulous and beautiful art of pranking. He still remembered when he'd insulted her favorite color only to have her give him a lecture that swayed him on the awesomeness of orange.

Dani had been just as important in creating Naruto into whom he was and returned to as even his mother had been. He'd come here knowing that what he'd done needed to happen, but now all he felt was that the hole in his heart had grown even greater than before.

Eventually the tears finally managed to cease their flow down his face and he wiped his eyes with his sleeve while ruefully saying to no one present, "Well, now it's just Honest and a few others left." He looked up and whispered, "Just a few more. I'm almost there, Mom." He then gently pulled the flower off of him and placed it in Dani's gorgeous black locks. "Just a few more and then I'm done for good."

Naruto leaned over the body, kissed Dani's still-warm forehead in reverence to the memories they'd shared, stood up, and left the scene of the murders.

No one ever saw a thing.

* * *

The blonde man let out a low whistle in appreciation at the size of the place. "Say what you will about the gal, but Najenda's got pretty good taste. This place is _huge_! And it's actually pretty hard to find too."

He then looked behind him and nodded in satisfaction to the thin barrier of strings he'd located and avoided entirely. Whoever designed this place earned a mental shout-out from him for picking such an easily defensible place: There was dense forestry preventing an all-out assault, a few rivers which would allow quick and speedy getaways, a large cliff above that was a perfect vantage point for scouting, and on the way in Naruto had seen that the area was lush with wildlife.

_Akame must love this place,_ he thought with a small smile. _Kurome would've liked it too – so much wonderful food to cook and to eat. Whoever's using Cross Tail though is apparently pretty good too; that barrier was no joke. It wasn't perfect but you'd need some killer eyes to even see those strings they used. Najenda's got herself a pretty good collection I guess,_ he thought with a sly grin while he walked towards the Night Raid base of operations.

As he got closer his acute hearing started picking up a total of five voices: two he'd met personally, one he'd heard once before and was able to guess his name, an additional female that he concluded must've been that 'Mine' character Akame and Leone warned him about, and one last male he had a gut feeling he'd seen before.

Naruto overheard Mine tell someone, "Here; drink this. It should numb the aches until you can hop in the Springs."

"Thanks, Mine," the lone voice he couldn't place communicated his gratitude. "Wave's blow would've probably killed me if I hadn't blocked it."

"We can wait until Tatsumi is recovered before he debriefs us," Akame spoke up like a commander. "For now you should just rest up, Tatsumi."

_The kid from the tourney?_ Naruto quickly realized and his eyes slightly widened in shock. He quickly suppressed the slight jealousy he felt in his chest and reminded himself, _It's not his fault. He's a friend of Akame too, so no killing him over her._

"Damn it!" Lubbock shouted in dismay. "Why is it always _you_, Tatsumi!? Not only have you stolen all of the women here but _Esdeath_ too! What the fuck, man!? What's your secret and why the hell won't you share it!?"

A cry of pain from the previous howler preceded Leone's exasperated voice, "Will you just give it a rest, Lubbock? Tatsumi survived probably the most harrowing night of his life and you haven't shut up since you guys got back."

Naruto then poked his head around the corner and chimed in, "Actually, I'd like to know how the kid got her to take him home too, Leone."

In the next instant Naruto dodged the sudden energy blast from Pumpkin and watched the same kid from the tournament spit his tea on the same girl who'd shot at him. The pink-haired girl then turned her tea-covered head around slowly and menacingly glared at the brown-haired boy while he had the good grace to look sheepish.

"Sensei!" Akame declared happily and then got another flick on the nose. "Sorry, sensei." And again she was flicked.

"Oh, it's just you, Root," Leone drawled while sounding completely unimpressed at his late arrival. "You're a little later than you said you'd be."

"Yeah; sorry about that," the whiskered man apologized. "I ran into a little trouble on the way here. On the plus-side though I can honestly say that Cross Tail barrier's pretty well made out there."

"Wait," the green-haired young man in the room stopped the fuss. "You mean to say that you not only were able to _see_ my barrier but also _avoid _it?" He then received a nod and clarified, "And you're this 'Naruto' Akame wouldn't shut up about and you're the one who pranked Leone yesterday?"

"What's he talking about, 'Nee-san?" Tatsumi looked towards the blonde woman, but she instead of answering just turned away to hide the embarrassed flush while they heard Mine stifle a few chuckles.

"Yep; that was me," Naruto nodded to the green-eyed youth in confirmation.

A green blur dashed across the room and Lubbock grasped both hands over one of Naruto's and began shaking it so fast it left afterimages in the air. Tears of joy escaped the youth's green eyes and he exclaimed, "I am so happy to finally meet you! You finally made her pay for all the pain she puts me through whenever she catches me while she's bathing!"

Naruto looked at the young man oddly and simply pointed out, "You know that there's a pretty simple way to avoid that pain while still seeing the glory of a woman's nude body, correct?"

"Please teach me, O' Master!"

"Just don't get caught," the man revealed to them all with a simple nod.

Lubbock froze completely after hearing this suggestion. He then suddenly howled out, "Why didn't I ever think of that!? You truly are as great as Akame said you were!"

Everyone watching the scene besides Tatsumi – because he looked completely and utterly dumbfounded by everything going on around him – and a seriously-nodding Akame sweatdropped at seeing this play out.

"And we have another pervert here. _Great_," Mine commented with a roll of her oddly pink eyes.

"Wait! Wait! Wait just a second here!" Tatsumi screamed and everyone's attention went over to him. "What the hell is going on around here!?"

Leone blinked dumbly and then realized, "Oh, that's right. We haven't told you yet but this asshole over here is gonna' be working with us from here on," she informed the brown-haired teen with a jab of her thumb at the pouting Naruto.

"How many times must I say it?" Naruto grumbled petulantly. "_You_ attacked _me_ and all I did was entirely out of self-defense! Don't blame me for your pride getting hurt!"

"I can't believe it," Tatsumi mumbled hollowly while Leone shot back at Naruto. "Not even five minutes and it's like he's always been here."

"Weirdos are my specialty, kid," Naruto told him after suddenly appearing at his side and slapping his back, making the boy jump in shock and everyone blink at the sight of his speed. "And if you think these guys are bad then you shoulda' seen the crew I had when I was just starting out. Aside from the pink eyesore over there this group's leaps and bounds better than mine."

"Oi!" Mine shouted indignantly. She then pulled Pumpkin back out and leveled it even with the unfazed man's face. She growled at him, "Who's a 'pink eyesore' again?"

The whiskered assassin merely blinked at the glowing muzzle in front of his face before turning towards Akame and asking while pointing, "Why's flatty over here got Pumpkin instead of Najenda?"

Tatsumi gaped at him in shock, Mine's face turned purple in her fury, and Leone and Lubbock both fell over laughing at his remark. "You're _DEAD_!" Mine shrieked and started chasing Naruto while blowing gigantic holes in the walls.

Naruto effortlessly ducked under a beam aimed at his head and Akame informed him, "Boss gave Mine Pumpkin because Mine was a much better sniper than her and no other Teigu seemed to like her."

"With that personality," he commentated while leaping over a dumbfounded Tatsumi who had to suddenly duck in order to also evade Mine's shot, "I'm wondering how even Pumpkin likes her."

"Watch it, Mine!" Tatsumi shouted at her angrily with his hair smoking and missing a few strands. "That nearly got me too!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't have gotten in the way then!" Mine shot back heatedly and they both got in each other's faces. "Or better yet, why didn't you try and stop him!?"

"Ah, young love," Naruto mused while wiping an imaginary tear from his eye but was unheard by the pair of raising voices. "To be that age again…" He then stopped cold and amended, "Wait. I hated puberty. Like hell I wanna' go through that shit again."

"Ya' know," Lubbock grinned while he threw an arm around Naruto's shoulders in a brotherly show of companionship, "I think we're gonna be great friends, Naruto."

"You think so?" Naruto grinned back with an identical toothy smile, and he also noticed Leone roll her eyes at the pair of them.

"Sensei," Akame called to him, and she was predictably flicked in the nose once more. She didn't even seen to register it this time and she continued with an odd nervousness to her voice, "Can we…Can we please talk outside? There's something I need to tell you and get off my chest."

Everyone stopped what they were doing – even Tatsumi and Mine stopped their squabbling – and stared at the dark-haired girl in a mix of shock and curiosity. Naruto raised an eyebrow at her and he nodded, "Sure. No problem, Akame. I've wanted to tell you something for a few years as well and this seems like a good enough opportunity to clear up any misunderstandings."

"Thanks," she nodded gratefully while shifting nervously, thus making every other present Night Raid member look at her with widened eyes. The red-eyed girl then walked out of the room and was followed by her former instructor while he felt every eye follow them both leave the area.

The pair walked out of the base and she led him around for a few minutes until they reached a relatively secluded and private area. Naruto looked at her and started it off by asking, "Well what is it, Akame? You asked me out here."

The teenage girl awkwardly rubbed her arm and looked away nervously. "I…I don't really know how to say it," she admitted hesitantly.

"You've never been one to worry about that stuff," Naruto pointed out. He then offered her, "Why don't you just not bother thinking about it and act like how I taught you to do when you're not certain about something?"

She looked up at him with a fond expression at his words. "Thanks, sensei," she expressed softly. She then took in a deep breath and started to recite, "I've always looked up to you, sensei. You took me and Kurome in and gave us a home we actually wanted to return to for the first time in our lives and I can't ever repay you for that.

"You always pushed all of us beyond our limits and wanted nothing but our best. To this day I still believe in your words: Nothing is more important than the people you hold precious in your heart. All I am now I owe to you, sen – _Naruto_," she finally managed to say, prompting a grin from him which she faintly returned. "When…what happened occurred I was shocked.

"I couldn't believe you'd done that, and yet we were shown what seemed to be irrefutable proof at the time. All of us were…greatly saddened by your perceived betrayal," she admitted while her grip on her arm tightened slightly. "I'm sorry for this but I then vowed that I would use your own lessons and that I would surpass and consign you for what we believed you did to us that day.

"When we…met again three years ago I finally couldn't hold it back anymore and I said such hurtful things that day. All those years of frustration just finally bubbled over and I lost all control; I shamed you and your teachings that day when I let my emotions guide my hand. Even then you never raised your blade at me and I…

"But my greatest failure was when I didn't believe in your very first and greatest lesson, Naruto: I never trusted my heart," she admitted and sniffed once. Naruto elected to just let her get all of this off her chest instead of interrupting her so she kept going, "You always told us to follow our heart when our mind disagrees and I didn't believe my heart. In my heart," she continued while a hand rested over her chest, "I knew you'd have never betrayed us the way they told us that you did, and for that I am greatly sorry, Naruto.

"You were my one place of safety and I failed to ever realize it until…_she_ came back carrying your blade like a trophy, and then I was certain that you'd died. For the first time," she revealed with wetness staining the corner of her eyes, "I felt my heart truly _ache_, Naruto, and you were right about how there's no greater pain than the loss of a loved one.

"I've lost many comrades and cried over each but no pain has ever even come close to that day. It was after that when I met the Boss and she convinced me that you'd been the one betrayed by the Capital and I decided to leave, so I stole your sword and I swore I'd carry it like you would and that I'd make you proud of me even if you couldn't see me.

"What I'm…trying to say," the young woman steered herself back towards her original goal, "is that I'm really sorry for ever doubting you, Naruto-sensei, and now I suppose I can finally get this off of my chest at last." Akame then closed her eyes, took a deep breath to steady herself, and reopened her crimson orbs with a shining determination in them. The former student next unbuckled her Teigu from her side, held it out in front of her like a knight would to their patron while taking a knee, and finished at last, "I wish to return your blade to you."

The four other members of Night Raid each then face-faulted down onto the rocky ground from the trees they'd been hiding in . "Oh come_ on_!" Lubbock shouted in disappointment. "We thought we were finally gonna' see something good and _this_ is what we get!?"

Mine then agreed loudly, "Yeah! Don't you know what's supposed to happen with this atmosphere, Akame!?"

"Well, this _is_ Akame we're talking about here," Leone grumped while dusting her legs off.

"True," Tatsumi nodded in solemn agreement. "She can't read the setting at all."

Akame just blinked confusedly at everyone and she asked dumbly, "Just what did you guys think I was going to do?"

Amused chuckles brought her attention over to her former teacher and he said, "I think I can guess. You guys thought that she was about to confess, didn't you?" A chorus of affirmative nods came from everyone else forced his chuckles to then become full-blown laughter.

The red-eyed girl just looked at him confusedly and asked for clarification, "Confess what, Naruto-sensei? I haven't done anything wrong, have I?"

"Oh, don't worry about it, Akame," he dismissed the query with a wave of his hand and that was the end of that. He was still stifling his giggles and told her, "It doesn't really matter at the moment anyway. But about what you just offered me…" He looked directly into her eyes with a serious look and asked, "Are you certain that you wish to do that?"

The girl in the sleeveless dress nodded once resolutely and reiterated to him, "I am absolutely certain. I decided that in the slim chance that you weren't actually dead and we ever met again that I would return what is rightfully yours; I was never given or earned Murasame so it is still not mine by Rite of Passage."

"I was afraid that it would go right over your pretty little head," Naruto exhaled in exhaustion, making the girl blink at him in confusion at his words. He then informed her, "Me letting Esdeath carry Murasame back that day _was_ me passing Murasame on to you, Akame."

This revelation led to a stunned intake of breath from the girl wielding his former weapon. Her hands started shaking while they still held the sheathe and she tried to say," Then…Then you…?"

"You proved it was time when we fought that day, Akame," he revealed to her. "Matter-of-fact I had intended on giving Murasame to you that very day but I realized that you'd probably never accept it from me as you were, so I waited and decided to send it back at the first opportunity.

"Yes," he started listing to her, "you let your emotions overrule your ration that day, but even then you were still an adequate match. I could tell from when our blades crossed that you hadn't abandoned my teachings and that you were already a match for just about anyone in the Capital. You _did_ actually manage to cut me, after all," he chuckled nostalgically.

"But that was only because you never went on the offensive that day!" Akame protested.

"_Because_ I was testing you, Akame," he reaffirmed sternly, brokering no arguments with his tone. The whiskered blonde then walked across the small area, pushed the sheathed blade down, and told her, "You _are_ the one I chose to succeed me, Akame. You've turned into a very pretty and downright gorgeous girl, albeit you're still even more dense than _I_ ever was at your age, but even then your dance is just as deadly and twice as beautiful as mine has never been. I have my own strengths and swordplay was never my forté – that was always you two sisters, but you were undoubtedly the better. Murasame is forevermore yours until you choose to pass it on, Akame, and nothing will ever change that."

A slight gust of wind blew her dark bangs away from her face and revealed her teary eyes, brimming with happiness and pride at hearing his words. She nodded in gratitude to him after a few minutes and she clutched the crimson-sheathed blade closer to her chest. "Thank you," she murmured once. The girl then had a few tears of absolute joy fall from her eyes and she repeated, "Thank you, Naruto-sensei. Thank you."

Naruto's face softened and a gentle smile appeared on his face. He laid a hand atop her head while she hugged the blade even closer to her chest and continued to thank him for his trust and faith in her. "You earned it," he promised her. "You really did."

"Just what did we just see happen?" Tatsumi asked the other members. "Why's Akame crying over that?"

Lubbock answered him with no humor present, "Because she just received the greatest gift any student can receive from their master."

"Their legacy," Leone finished with her face showing her surprise at what they'd just seen.

Naruto hugged his disciple and whispered a few last words to her too low for anyone to overhear and she went stiff in response. She then looked up and into his eyes and her crimson orbs showed a steely determination in them that she showed with a equally determined nod.

"I will…try," Akame answered his request. "It will not be easy though."

"I know that," the blonde man had a pained smile on his face as he stood back up to his full height. All traces of sadness then left his face and he turned around towards the spectators with a huge grin on his face. "So I hear you guys throw a pretty serious bash around here. How much booze you guys got stocked up? 'Cause I'll drink you all under the table!"

"Oh yeah!" Lubbock and Leone looked riled up at the challenge.

"You're damn straight!" Naruto shouted at them all excitedly. "And you," he pointed at the confused Tatsumi, "you're getting in on it too! I will not have any man under my name not be able to hold his liquor! You're going to show me just why Esdeath chose you!"

Over to the side Mine asked Akame while she was composing herself again, "Why'd he just bring up Esdeath, Akame?"

Akame just looked over at the steadily rising volume of the four people across the way and then looked at Mine. She then answered, "Did you not know? Sensei is in love with her."

"EH!"

"Way to spill the beans, Akame," Naruto grumbled while everyone else just looked at him like he'd truly grown a second and third head and then attempted to Riverdance with each of them. He then glared at the shrinking form of a sweating Tatsumi attempting to hide behind his former student.

Tatsumi gulped and thought out loud, "Why do I get the sudden feeling I need to run very far very fast right now?"

* * *

**A/N: **Chapter done, and it was surprisingly done in a way I could actually accept. I'm back, yes, and I'm also going to try and update everything in the next few weeks. I'm not guaranteeing anything here but I do realize that some of my stories are on the better side of a year from their last updates, so I decided I'm going to get out a few while I still have the time.

Because I'm going to be too engrossed in the new Dragon Age game when it comes out in a month to bother picking up my pencil and paper if it's not for school. I'm just being honest with you all here so please don't try and find and kill me. That game looks AWESOME! And I don't care if you're a fan or not, Bioware rocks.

And I have one last command for all of my readers: You must read the Akame ga Kiru manga! If you are a fan of the show _Game of Thrones_ or even the book series _A Song of Ice and Fire_ then you will fall in love with it something fierce like I did. This series has rocketed up my favorite anime/manga list to number two in just a few short months (Code Geass will forever be Number One and nothing can ever top it; I don't care what anyone says!).

**SPOILERS! DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T READ THE MANGA!**

**SPOILERS! DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T FOLLOW THE MANGA!**

**SPOILERS! DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WORSHIP THE MANGA!**

**SPOILERS! DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT PART OF THE STORY TO BE SPOILED!**

Holy shit, I am in awe! You know, I wasn't ever really a huge fan of Mine (I wasn't ever against her but I didn't prefer her) but I just might have become one after Chapter 53 finally came out. Budo just got completely wrecked! And it wasn't even fair! Mine has, without a doubt, the greatest number of Death Flags for any single character in any series ever and she just keeps on ticking (Mine: Powered by Death Flags!).

And now we shall see the most epic catfight in all of showdown history next month! I'm not really the type to be this anxious for something but I can't fucking wait! The rescue of Tatsumi is going to be amazing; I'm calling it!


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